Safety of women tourists’ top priority, says Union Minister of Culture and Tourism

New Delhi: Union Minister of Culture and Tourism Shripad Yesso Naik on Thursday said the safety and security of all tourists, especially women, remains the top priority of the government and the ministry is framing guidelines for state governments to ensure this.

Speaking at the inaugural session of the day-long ‘State Tourism Ministers Conference’ here, Naik said in-bound tourism has shown growth since June 2014 and foreign tourist arrivals grew by 9 percent. And looking at this growth, the ministry of tourism has prepared a road map to ensure travel conditions and services improve in India, he said.

For this, one of the key measures is to make India a safer destination for domestic and international travellers, especially women, he added. Naik stressed on the need to make "women safety" a top priority."We are working on formulating a set of guidelines for the state governments and union territories on the 'safety and security' of tourists," said Naik in a statement.

"The guidelines also include tips for travellers and also safety guidelines for adventure activities. Plans are also afoot to harness technology towards ensuring the safety and security of tourists," he said. Naik also said that the ministry of tourism is working to set up a 24x7 "Tourist info line/ contact centre" to serve those tourists who know little about India or don't know Indian languages, often not even English.